


up for the challenge?

by VolxdoSioda



Series: MerMay 2019 (Complete) [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cor is an utter softy but don't you dare try to call him on it, Gen, Noctis.exe is in the process of learning please wait
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 09:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18989815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: A moment of trying to get the Crown Prince back into the waters.





	up for the challenge?

"Shit!"

A splash; Cor watches the wave of water descend back down, and calls out, "Again."

Noctis surfaces with a gasp and a cough that Cor has learned not to panic over the last few weeks they've been doing this. He watches his egg drag himself to land, legs still firmly attached, and calls, "Again, Noctis."

Noctis nods, takes a few breathes, and shoves himself back into the ocean. There's that faint flicker-glow for a few seconds as the young monarch's power attempts to re-establish itself, and then the  _shatter_ of a broken power stopped cold by a curse.

Surface, gasp, cough, drag. Again.

Three more times he tries, and each time the light grows fainter, as if the curse is chasing it away. It's something Cor dreads to see, because it means he has to tell Regis  _not today,_ and watch as his King tries to hide his disappointment.

Not in Noctis.  _Never_ in Noctis. Leviathan's Tail, none of them are disappointed in Noctis. They could  _never_ be. Not with him trying to find his power again, trying to find a way to break the curse of humanity that has been laid on him. Whoever took him years ago knew what they were doing, and they knew how to keep Noctis from the open ocean ever again.

The only question that remains is  _why._ If it had been for the pelt, any good hunter would known a Mer's coat is only good once they're into adulthood. So they wouldn't have done it for that. They might have done it for riches, except a baby Mer requires untold amounts of energy and stimulation to keep it happy and growing, and more than that they need certain foods that only Mers grow. 

So why? Why kidnap the Crown Prince from his depths, force him into a human shell, and  _keep_ him there well past the time it would have made them any profit.

Cor drags himself up the shore, and lets his Mer form drop, taking on the human appearance as Noctis breathes, soaking wet beneath the sun. "Enough?" he asks, offering a hand to his Prince.

Noctis nods, clearly tired - enough so to where he leans against Cor when the older man offers him a shoulder to do so, and lets him support them both back up the hill. He tugs on the clothes Prompto had the foresight to bring (bless that guppy) and the extra-large towels Aulea had specially woven to absorb the water out of Noctis' clothing and keep him warm during these training sessions. Even if there is land and sea dividing them, Aulea looks after her son however she can. 

Cor understands the sentiment all too well, now. 

He wraps a towel around Noctis and starts drying his hair. Noctis yawns, barely putting up a fight as Cor scrubs him dry, even cracking a smile once. Once he's appropriately dry, the towel goes into a bag that will go onto the back of the bike, and he hauls Noctis to his feet again.

"Home," he says. "You need a nap."

"I'm not tired," Noctis complains. He's been doing that more since Cor gave him back his sweaters. Talking more, complaining, opening up little by little. He's still shy on the best of days, still anxiety-driven, but he doesn't hide in his own home anymore. And little by little he's been taking the space back from Cor; putting up knickknacks he likes, or pictures of him and Prompto. 

"You mean you don't feel tired. But you've stressed your limits today--"

"I only got six chances, Cor," Noctis grumbles. "I should be doing more--"

"-- _you've stressed your limits today,"_ Cor picks up, a little louder, and with a look at Noctis to warn him against interrupting again, "And you need your rest."

Noctis tilts his head down and pouts, but Cor isn't swayed. He tugs Noctis onto the bike, and waits as the boy wraps arms around him, firm, before he kicks the engine on. Before they fully take off though, he catches words mumbled against his shoulder blade.

"...Can we get something to eat first?"

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 

Despite the claims from Noctis "I'm Not Tired" Lucis Caelum, with a belly full of hot food (courtesy of the corner Galahdian food booth they both like) and the background noise of TV playing as he lays on Cor's thigh and Cor finger-combs his hair, he's out like a light. 

He's also drooling on Cor's thigh. Cor should probably move him - he's the Marshal of the  high seas, not a nanny - but honestly the boy's warm weight brings him back to simpler times, so he resigns himself to taking the pants for a wash later and keeps stroking fingers through silky black locks. 

He wonders if this would have been if Noctis hadn't been kidnapped. If they'd stayed under the seas, and Regis had all but pushed Noctis into his care as Hatchery head, and Cor spent days chasing the little Mer around the seabed, helping him find his strength and swim to higher places. If the papoose he once used for Prompto, slung across his chest in a display of casual strength, would have been used for the Crown Prince. 

Noctis snorts, foot kicking out at nothing as he dreams, and Cor chuckles to himself despite everything. 

 _Egg,_ he thinks fondly. Perhaps one day he'll get the chance to help Noctis find his fins again, but until that day, this is an acceptable substitute.


End file.
